Journalists attacked, threatened amid Yemen protests

New York,
April 29, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an attack on Al-Jazeera
journalists and threats against a Sky News Arabia news crew by anti-government
protesters in Aden on Saturday--the latest in a wave of violence against the
press in the country.

Al-Jazeera
correspondent Yasser Hassan and cameraman Samir al-Nimri were beaten by dozens
of supporters of Yemen's southern secessionist movement in the southern city of
Aden, a network spokesman told CPJ. Hassan was hospitalized with a broken nose
and Nimri's body was covered in bruises. A third crew member, correspondent
Safa Karman, was unharmed, news reports said.

Thousands of
protesters poured into Yemen's streets on Saturday to
commemorate the 19th anniversary of the start of the brief civil war between
North and South Yemen, according to news reports. The military attempt to
reassert South Yemen's independence was crushed after three months in 1994, but
the political movement supporting secession, known as Hirak, remains
influential in the south.

News sources
and the local press freedom group Freedom Foundation also reported that a Sky News correspondent, Mohammed
al-Qadi, and an unnamed cameraman were threatened in Aden by protesters flourishing their
daggers.

"We call on the
Hirak leadership to hold its supporters accountable for this assault," said CPJ
Middle East and North Africa Coordinator Sherif Mansour. "Hirak says it is a
peaceful movement, and a full investigation would be one way to prove it."

The Al-Jazeera
spokesman told CPJ that members of Hirak gave the journalists permission to
cover the protests, but they were attacked nonetheless and had their equipment
and personal effects confiscated.

A spokesman
for the Hirak movement, who said he tried to stop the attack as it happened, condemned the assailants and insisted the movement was
peaceful. He promised to undertake efforts to recover the crew's confiscated
property, according to news reports.

This month,
CPJ has documented a disturbing rise in attacks and threats against the Yemeni press, many of them in
Aden.